By Adam Robinson
sports editor

A busy summer is about to pave the way for a busy fall for the T.R. Miller Tiger football team as they get ready for their 2013 season.
“It has been a pretty good summer,” T.R. Miller Tiger head coach Jamie Riggs said. “All the players have done well. They have been here and we have learned a few things this summer. This day and time, your knowledge of things is probably a little bit better than it used to be years ago because we just get so many more reps these days. You don’t play the game in shorts though, so it is just really hard to evaluate where you are until you get pads on.”
Riggs said with his team doing their spring practices in February, his team is far-removed from being evaluated in pads.
“It has been four or five months since we last wore pads,” he said. “Until you get them on, we don’t really know where we are.”
In February, Riggs dressed out 73 players — players that will be ninth graders through seniors this coming season — with 37 on the red team and 36 on the white.
The roster for the Tigers showed 23 freshmen, 15 sophomores, 22 juniors, and 13 seniors.
As of now, Riggs’ roster shows 67 players with 20 freshmen, 14 sophomores, 20 juniors and 13 seniors.
“We lost a few since then,” Riggs said. “We have around 67 players now.”
Riggs said for most of the summer, his team worked out three times a week.
“We lifted on two of those days,” Riggs said. “We were here about an hour-and-a-half and then one day we just came out and practiced. Towards the end of summer, we started coming in and doing a little bit more. We are on the field about two-and-a-half hours, so we are stretching it out a little bit more. We are just trying to get prepared because we actually have a game in less than three weeks. We have to start working to actual football a little more.”
With the first day of practice hitting on Aug. 5, Riggs has a schedule for what he would like to get done up until school starts.
“We will practice in the mornings,” Riggs said. “I will practice in the mornings at 7 a.m. as long as I can. It works out pretty good because it gives you a little bit of the humidity that you will see. Usually by around 8:30 or 9 a.m. it is starting to warm up pretty good. The last part of practice, it really has warmed up pretty good, but that is good for us because we need to get out in the heat a little bit. I think as far as that goes, it also allows us to beat the afternoon thunderstorms and it allows us to get up early and do it and have the rest of the day to do what you want. I am not doing any two-a-days, so we can see if we are able to get one good practice in.”
Riggs said he will go with that schedule as far as he can until his coaches have to start their teacher meetings.
“Once they start meetings we will go in the afternoons because they are tied up until 3:30 p.m.,” Riggs said. “We will practice at 5 p.m. some of those days. Once school starts on August 19, we will only practice late once or twice with most of our practices coming after school. It is hot right after school, but not as humid. That is just part of it. I still think morning practices are the best way to do it.”
The Tigers of T.R. Miller will play a preseason game at home against Flomaton at 7 p.m. on Friday, August 23. The next week, the Tigers will open their season at home against the Escambia County Blue Devils of Atmore.